Trump says he had ‘productive’ talk with Big Ten commissioner about starting football season

President Trump said Tuesday that he had a “productive” conversation with the commissioner of the Big Ten Conference about “immediately starting up” its football season, which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Had a very productive conversation with Kevin Warren, Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, about immediately starting up Big Ten football,” Trump tweeted. “Would be good (great!) for everyone – Players, Fans, Country. On the one yard line!”

Had a very productive conversation with Kevin Warren, Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, about immediately starting up Big Ten football. Would be good (great!) for everyone – Players, Fans, Country. On the one yard line!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2020

The president later commented on the conversation during an exchange with reporters at Joint Base Andrews, suggesting at one point that Democrats were the only obstacle to keeping the conference from playing.

“I think it was very productive about getting Big Ten playing again, immediately. Let’s see what happens. He’s a great guy. It’s a great conference, tremendous teams. We’re pushing very hard,” Trump told reporters.

“I think the biggest headwind we have is that you have Democrats that don’t want to see it happen. But I think they want to play and the fans want to see it and the players have a lot at stake, including possibly playing in the NFL,” he continued.

The Big Ten issued a statement to reporters about the phone call, also describing it “productive” and noting that a White House representative reached out to Commissioner Kevin Warren on Monday to arrange the call.

“The Big Ten Conference and its Return to Competition Task Force, on behalf of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C), are exhausting every resource to help student-athletes get back to playing the sports they love, at the appropriate time, in the safest and healthiest way possible,” the conference said.

The Big Ten announced last month that it would postpone its fall season due to health and safety concerns related to the novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 180,000 people in the United States. The Pac-12 similarly decided to postpone its fall season.

Trump has vocally pushed for college football to continue, despite the pandemic.

“The student-athletes have been working too hard for their season to be cancelled,” he tweeted in August, amid talk that the Big Ten and Pac-12 were likely to cancel their seasons.

The president also tweeted about Big Ten football over the weekend, claiming that Democrats were opposed to football returning for “political reasons.”

–Updated at 1:53 p.m.